Food

Monosodium Glutamate: What You Need to Know About The Additive E621

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Monosodium glutamate (E621) is a flavor enhancer and is often criticized. The substance is said to be responsible for the nausea that often occurs after visiting a Chinese restaurant.

Monosodium glutamate is one of several salts of L-glutamic acid. There are other glutamates, but monosodium glutamate is the most common in the food industry. It is an isolated substance in its purest form. But there is also natural monosodium glutamate, which is chemically identical to the man-made substance. The natural monosodium glutamate is found, for example, in protein-rich foods such as fish and poultry. The body can easily absorb and fully utilize the substance.

Monosodium glutamate has been criticized as an artificial flavor enhancer in finished products. In such foods, however, it does not provide any of its own, but can only enhance existing flavors. Because monosodium glutamate does not have a taste of its own, explains Professor Ursula Bordewick-Dell from the University of Applied Sciences in Münster.

Monosodium glutamate in food: an overview

Monosodium glutamate is naturally found in many foods:
tomatoes
Cheese
eggs
poultry
legumes
Artificial monosodium glutamate is commonly found in these foods:
Ready meals (frozen products, canned products, instant noodles)
Ready-made sauces (e.g. salad dressing)
crisps
hot dog

Effect of monosodium glutamate on health

Studies have shown that monosodium glutamate increases appetite. Therefore, the substance is often mixed into animal feed to make animals overeat and gain weight faster. This has also been observed in humans. However, scientists now assume that humans would have to consume very large amounts of monosodium glutamate for a noticeable appetite-stimulating effect. So big that the crowd could be deadly.
The Kiel scientist Professor Michael Hermanussen points out that in animal experiments glutamate was able to penetrate into the brain: “Obviously the blood-brain barrier has leaks”. In animal experiments, newborns whose mothers received a high dose of glutamate were also harmed. Although these animal experiments cannot be directly transferred to humans, they do indicate potential dangers.

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